Even Heroes Have Limits
by LiulfrLokison
Summary: Being a hero isn't as great as its made out to be in the storybooks. Believe him, Cloud knows all about it. Once again, our hero is thrown into a situation where he has to save people. This time it was a dragon. And why was everyone calling him Dovahkiin? (Although he was kind of pissed that only Keith realised he was gone). Part 4 of SHINRA Electric Power Company Crack
1. Chp1: The Problem Of Being A Hero

_This sort of spawned from a conversation in the comments of SHINRA Secrets, and turned from a one - shot chapter into a full blown story. Beta - edited by ChaosBalance (from AO3) (more like co - written with in my opinion). Hope that you enjoy, and here's the first chapter. (I own neither the Skyrim franchise or the FFVII franchise, but kudos to them for creating such wonderful masterpieces. But Keith is of my own creation, so I can claim him at least!)_

 **Even Heroes Have Limits**

 _ **Chapter 1: The Problem Of Being A Hero**_

-o0o-

The one problem with being a hero is that you are expected to always be able to help.

That applied to every circumstance, no matter how ridiculous or risky the consequences were.

(Per example, the dress incident).

And now here he was again, made the hero in a time where he shouldn't even know about these things.

The goddess had been kind enough to at least send him back to a point where he would be able to have an impact, but still . . .

Being a SOLDIER cadet sucked.

Thus, the reason why he was yet again in the situation of being the runt of the litter, and currently had three older, burlier cadets ganging up on him.

However, it seemed that fate had another path for him today.

Cloud had heard about the Head Janitor of Shinra, who had much more power than a normal custodian. In his timeline, he had never even heard of the janitors (deciding then and there Minerva had sent him to an alternative dimension of sorts).

So it was reasonable that he was flipping surprised to see a tall, blonde man in the standard blues of the janitorial crew come out of nowhere and throw the biggest cadet (who Cloud was pretty sure had been binging on steroids) into a wall with such a solid thump that paint peeled off.

The other two fled pretty quickly, and Cloud was left with a curious janitor who seemed to have already been pissed off at something else beforehand, and had thankfully taken out his rage on the unfortunate cadets that had lain in his path.

It was there and then Cloud realised that his job would be a little easier than the first time around.

The thing with being constantly dunked into the Lifestream a couple of dozen times, gave him a few extra abilities that even Aerith hadn't known about.

The Lifestream was basically made up of the energy of the Planet and is the cycle of souls, both the dying and the newly born. Destiny is not planned out by anyone, even the Goddess herself didn't have control over the flow of fate, but the Lifestream itself has a small amount of control on which influential souls it releases.

Sephiroth was unfortunate enough to be one of those that had been saddled with one of the worst destinies, but that could be averted if someone else with a destiny just as great got involved. And due to his multiple dunks in the Lifestream, Cloud had been able the see the strings of fate ever since the fall of Deepground.

He hadn't told any of his friends because, if he knew their band of misfits correctly (and of course he did), they would do whatever they could to help, and Cloud did not want to burden them with a task that they had no chance with succeeding in. (It wasn't like it was affecting him in a bad way; it just got a little distracting).

And now, as he stared at the janitor who was brushing his hands clean of imaginary dirt, he could see this man's destiny.

This man held so many strings of fate that Cloud was almost blinded, a rainbow of colours that spread out throughout the entire tower, leading from one person to another. It was a sight to behold, and it terrified him that this man held so much power but did not realise to what extent.

He would have to get close to this man in order to have at least one hand on the steering wheel of the road of fate.

Cloud wasn't sure how he was going to do that, but in the coming days, he didn't really need to be that worried.

Keith had apparently adopted Cloud into his makeshift family the moment he found the bigger cadets bullying him that day.

And Cloud found himself enjoying Keith's company, Keith was like the big brother he never had, and he wished that this man had been part of his own life back in Nibelheim (it turned out Keith was raised in Nibelheim most of his childhood), and they enjoyed grousing over the townsfolk, Keith had some good blackmail on the villagers and some good revenge stories.

Over the next few weeks, he found himself genuinely enjoying his time in SHINRA. He had become friends with Zack again (vowing at some point to get the Gongagan native to meet Aerith), Reno had of course become interested in Keith's latest ward (which gave him an ample cover as to why he knew the ventilation systems inside out).

It was a month after he met Keith when he ran into Professor Hojo; alarmed to see the scientist lurking in Keith's office. He was even more surprised when the Professor actually started a conversation up with him; this Hojo was unlike the scientist he had unfortunately fallen into the clutches of, but a genuinely nice man (as long as you didn't have a problem with his fascination with chaos and destruction).

It was reaching the three month mark of him being returned to the past, and so far things were working out for him.

He was a friend to a person with an influential soul, had access to a scientist with morals (ignoring the fact the scientist in question revelled in chaotic destruction), and had a new fluff-ball companion to protect him from the bigger cadets.

But of course, something bad had to occur.

(He was pretty sure Karma held a grudge against him, if said karma was an actual entity).

It was Keith's day off, and his classes were cancelled for the day as someone *cough*Zack*cough* had pissed off Commander Rhapsodos enough that the man melted a hole in the floor. Which happened to drip molten rock onto the floor below and the heads of the cadet lecturers for the day. Nobody died, but the afflicted men would have minor burns as result. No amount of Cure materia could get rid of all the scar tissue.

Keith didn't have to deal with the clean up as he wasn't qualified to repair floors (but everyone was sure he could if given the chance).

So Cloud decided to stay with Keith for the day, until his night patrols. He had no idea what he would do for eight hours if Keith hadn't given him permission to hide in his office whenever he wanted.

But on his way to the Head Janitor's office, Cloud felt the familiar and yet strange sensation of an inter-dimensional portal (he couldn't really explain how he could sense them, but he had gone through enough to know when one was being opened) forming right behind his back.

Mini-Cloud shrieked shrilly and bounced off down the hallway as Cloud felt a rather familiar, disgusting energy grasp him. A greasy slime that trapped him with the strength of thick mud, drawing him in with an oily embrace.

He wasn't able to escape the portal's bruising hold.

-o0o-

Cloud woke slowly, dimensional travel was never fun, and looked around.

He jolted up when he realized he was on the back of a cart with his hands tied up in rope. The blonde-haired man with the braid asked him if he was alright, having been dropped straight into the middle of an ambush, but Cloud ignored him. The most important thing was getting his bearings. He did look at the blonde in shock at the comment of 'the end of the line' though.

This brown haired brat asked him for his name, before confirming he wasn't on this 'list'. Cloud had to speak up though when the superior officer coldly stated that he was to be sent to the block with the others.

"I was sent here through a portal from Terra, and my name is Cloud Strife. This is Nirn, from what I can hear, and I know that those who cross should be treated as guests until a pathway is found. Besides, I have more than earned the epithet of Ultima, and the Calamity's Nightmare wasn't able to kill me on any of the attempts made."

A roar had everyone looking around, before a soldier walked over and started conversing with the officer. The officer's eyes narrowed, and Cloud knew that all she cared about was seeing heads roll. It didn't help that she had a strong scent that was mostly comprised of dried blood. He was more pissed off by the fact she completely dismissed what he stated, clearly none of them had a visitor from outside their dimension in a long time.

Cloud took his place among the lines of men, ignoring what was obviously a commander talking to the high-profile prisoner that had been in his cart. The second roar had mostly everyone nervous, and a priestess stepped forward to give the last rights. Cloud merely scoffed and walked over.

"I couldn't be killed by the one that tried to destroy my world. What makes you think that you will succeed?" as Cloud tossed this to the officer; the commander startled and stepped forward.

Unfortunately that's when the Strife luck kicked in and the Dragon showed up.

Cloud's face blanked of all emotion as he looked up at the scaly horror.

"Let me guess, you are going to try your claw at killing me as well?"

-o0o-

 _A/N: This is the first chapter of many, I'm working off walkthroughs and have never played the game, so please don't get offended if I screw up some of the game lore or leave out details. But ChaosBalance has been a great help with providing details about the game._

 _LuilfrLokison out! :3_


	2. Chp2: Escaping With Imbeciles

Let the escape begin.

-o0o-

 _Aiyah . . . It's been ages since I touched this one . . . the Sugar crack fic just sort of took over. But yep, we made a bit more progress and so here it the results!_

 _Disclaimer: Any characters recognized, belong to their respective owners._

 **Since I'm the one with the game (and Lokir won't let me get it for her as a chrissie gift) I'm the one stuck with continuity errors and the game-play portions... At least there's Youtube.**

-o0o-

 _ **Chapter 2: Escaping With Imbeciles**_

-o0o-

Now dragons, Cloud didn't have a problem with.

Sure, they were big, scaly, basically a living breathing flame thrower, but he had faced bigger and much stronger foes in the past.

He was all up for fighting the dragon that was terrorising the town, burning the houses and causing mass mayhem in general. Cloud needed a way to let the pent up aggression that had been building since he had arrived on this world, all too ready to spring at the dragon and bury First Tsurugi deep into its neck.

Except these two imbeciles were dragging him out of the line of fire.

One being the scruffy blonde that had been on the cart with him, and the only guard that had looked apologetic as he was about to be executed.

All he wanted to do was kill a dragon, so why were these two interfering? Shouldn't they be running like all the other spineless cowards who had already gone screaming for the hills?

-o0o-

"Are you trying to kill yourself? Why would you just stand there instead of getting out of the way?" Hadvar was confused, shocked and worried. A glance at Ralof, who was ushering them toward the tower that held both safety and Ulfric, confirmed that the Stormcloak obviously thought that this spiky blonde haired runt was completely crazy.

"Why would I run from that? I've faced Nibel Dragon youngling runts that are larger and more powerful. By Bahamut ZERO, I've faced off an entire NEST of Mako-Crazed Nibel Dragon adults, all I can think of when I see that thing is ' it's trying to intimidate me, how cute'."

Ulfric, who had just shut the door behind the trio, began gaping at the tiny blonde before shaking his head and cutting the already stressed rope from the blonde's arms and hands. " It is said that no mortal blade may scratch the scales of the World Eater, that a special thu'um is needed to rend Alduin mortal."

"So you're telling me that thing has a negate damage buff? Fuck, those types are always annoying. I can still give it something to think about while you get the innocent people out, at least."

Ulfric wasn't the only one gaping when the Traveller pulled a sword almost as tall as himself out of nowhere, but he was able to get Ralof's attention and signal him to stay close to the deceptively powerless-looking powerhouse…. Who was currently glancing about the room as if hearing something that they could not.

When the crazy stick thin blonde settled his gaze upon the stairs, the sound of the wall crumbling in and raining rocks down upon them didn't startle them as much as it would have. And when the blonde sprinted up the stairs and jumped straight out the gaping hole in the stone walls, they all scrambled to keep up with him.

Perhaps with him, they would live to survive another day.

-o0o-

Cloud, was currently having the time of his life.

For three months, he had been stuck in his old, scrawny, twig thin body, pent up aggression and rage, with no way to let it out without bringing attention to himself.

But now he was in a completely different world, who didn't know a single thing about him. He was free to act how he chose, and heck if he cared about his strength not matching his appearance.

There was a dragon in the vicinity, and there was nothing to stop him from killing it.

Well, almost.

The dragon was really going all out with the flamethrower aspect of the winged lizards, throwing fire everywhere and burning everything to the ground. He was quite glad that First Tsurugi could withstand most temperatures, if it had been a normal blade, his hands would be burning as he used the large broadsword as a shield from the flames, keeping the dragon's attention on him as the townsfolk escaped. He didn't miss the language the so called 'adult dragon' was using either.

" _Hey Ugly! Maybe I should Summon Bahamut to teach you how to Dragon!_ "

It was odd that the dragon stilled for a moment, then seemed to panic blindly. It was babbling something about a Dragonborn, maybe he should correct it.

" _Actually, I'm a Traveller. This language is the native language in my home region on my world._ "

Funny, that only seemed to make the dragon panic MORE. Unfortunately, Cloud ended up losing his grip, and ended up a little ways away from a small boy and what appeared to be his father. The General that had tried to step in for him was there to the side, and the others in the tower were only just catching up.

That was when the Dragon flamed again and Cloud was forced to shield the boy and his father. Luckily, the dragon then flew up and began to circle, fixated on Cloud and babbling in abject terror, making feints and dive as it began to try and find a weak point to exploit.

Considering Cloud had managed to shear one of its horns off a couple of inches above the flesh on its skull when he fell, it sort of had the right to be terrified. Cloud had EARNED the title of Ultima, and that was no walk in the park. Pity that the flesh was protected by the thing's Negate Damage Buff, that scaled leather would have made a nice replacement holster for First Tsurugi.

He would have come up with an idea of how to at least inflict some more damage on the dragon, but in his musings, he hadn't noticed how close he had come to 'the Keep' (he assumed that's what it was called as someone was yelling to get to the damn thing), and the fellow prisoner Ralof was grasping him by the arm.

Seeing as the dragon was keeping its distance now, and most of the villagers had evacuated, he didn't see the point in staying out in the open any longer.

The Keep was dreary, in his opinion. Everything was built with stone or wood, and seeing how easily the dragon had broken into that tower previously, he had no faith in the building structure.

Ralof was crouching over a dead body, muttering some sort of passing rite.

"I'll see you in Sovengard, Brother. Oi, Cloud was it? Take his gear, he won't be needing it anymore"

"I'm pretty well equipped already." Seriously, this guy thought he needed armour after seeing him tackle dragon breath without getting burned? Besides, it would probably just weigh him down, Cloud was already quite light on his feet and fast enough to evade attacks.

"His armour is of the Light class, you'll not be slowed down. Besides, it's best if we hide you from Thalmor sight for as long as possible, those damn elves would probably try to enslave you with their magic if they learn of your strength. It might not work, but it will annoy you either way."

Okay. Maybe he had a point.

Grumbling about bacteria and infections under his breath, Cloud divested the corpse of his armour and shrugged the fur cloak on.

That's when they heard the sound of arguing coming from the tunnel that lead to the other door of the Keep.

"I don't believe you! No one can possibly be that strong to wield the sword, much less be able to pull it out of thin air! You're delusional, and a Traitor!"

"I'm telling you, the blonde isn't one to provoke! Did you not see how that Dragon was acting?!"

"That so called 'Dragon' was nothing more than the work of Stormcloak Rebels with Illusion school magic! Obviously a desperate ploy to rescue their Leader! You would dare to believe otherwise? Then you are a fool, a coward, and will be executed when we return to the General's side, I'll make sure of it!"

 _Those flames looked pretty real to me._ Cloud scoffed in his mind, this bitch was delusional to think that dragon was a mere illusion.

The heavy interlocking steel that led out into the passageway was interesting, what was more interesting was the way Ralof crouched behind the stone pillar near to it.

"Cover, we might yet ambush them!"

Cloud scoffed, before putting Tsurugi over his shoulder and standing clear in plain view.

"Rebels!"

The bitch stuck Hadvar and tossed him to the obvious switch on the side of the door, before rushing Cloud when the intertwining steel raised.

Okay, she had just been upgraded from a bitch to an absolute nut case in his mind.

Before she could even swing, Tsurugi was tearing through her neck in one clean slice, a streak of blood painting his face. Cloud's eye twitched at this, he hated blood splatters, especially when it got close to his eyes. Ralof and Hadvar both stared openly as he flicked the blood off his sword, the gleaming steel silver once again and not a remainder of the psycho's blood remained on the blade.

"There are supplies in the previous room, she wouldn't allow me to grab them but they could prove useful. There are also a few coins that are lying about and a few books that might give you an idea of the lay of the land." Hadvar was a little shaken, he had seen the look in the blonde's eyes only in assassins or war veterans, the look that indicated that one wasn't concerned with death.

Ah. Looting. Cloud's favourite past-time.

He didn't need an invitation to go grab whatever supplies that seemed useful, the two men trailing behind him as he methodically sorted through whatever was salvageable, pocketing the coins and flicking through the books which were rather . . . interesting.

"I'll take the weapons and extra armor, they'll be worth a few coins at least." Ralof wasn't going to be taking point (neither was Hadvar for that matter) when the strongest of the three had no trouble with swinging that behemoth of a sword around.

It was when Cloud found a small key that Hadvar spoke up from where he was gathering what foodstuffs he could.

"That's the key to the lock on the other door, it leads to the catacombs and our escape route."

Well, back to the room they started in.

-o0o-

As they followed the corridor, there was a rumble.

"Shit, GET BACK!" Cloud could hear the ceiling give way.

Soon the area was filled with rubble, blocking the path forward.

"Through this door, it's a supplies room." Hadvar was feeling a little winded from where Ralof had been pushed into him, although the two of them could have been buried under those rocks if Cloud hadn't push them out of the way, so it could have been worse.

However the moment they entered the room, it turned out they weren't the only ones with the idea of looting the Keep.

Two men were fighting against each other, one dressed in the armour of the Empire, and the other in the garb of a Stormcloak.

Cloud found this rather foolish, there was a dragon attacking and they were focused on killing one another?

He was surrounded by idiots.

So he did the one thing he knew would work (thanking Keith for giving him many examples from prior bullies in his squad, and on one memorial occasion, two of the three Firsts), grabbing both men by the scruffs of their necks and tearing them apart.

Both were alarmed that he managed to pull them away from each other and hold them aloft, despite his small frame and 'delicate' appearance, but the scowl on his face was a clear message to 'shut-the-hell-up'.

"There is a dragon, and you'd rather try to kill each other because of your allegiances? Shouldn't your lives come first instead? Survive first, then decide if you want to pick up this fight again or not."

Their star-struck expressions were all he needed to see as confirmation that they had listened, before dumping both on their asses and walking over to the other door.

"Get want you want out of here, I'll wait here."

Ralof and Hadvar wasted no time in stripping the place bare, taking charge of the man from their respective factions.

Cloud let out a heavy sigh.

This world was more trouble than it was worth.

He had a headache.

-o0o-

 _A/N: So there you have it, the second installment of madness. I can't promise a date for the next chapter, as I managed to get a house keeping job at a lodge, meaning not a lot of time to write . . . So it may be a while before any other story gets updated!_

 _LiulfrLokison out! :3_

 **Not to mention you still need to find other vids of playthroughs. I can only do so much with how unstable my game is without mods. Mainly the Skyrim glitch-fix mod, that I have to re-install every time I boot the game up or it doesn't register.**

 **ChaosBalance signing out!**


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